


Drift and tether

by Winchestersandmarvel



Series: Chaotic duo Remus and Virgil [9]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Dark Sides As Family (Sanders Sides), Dissociation, Grounding techniques, Mental Health Issues, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides), Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, janus looks after his neurodivergent kids, momceit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winchestersandmarvel/pseuds/Winchestersandmarvel
Summary: Janus helps ground both Remus and Virgil when they dissociate.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders
Series: Chaotic duo Remus and Virgil [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704238
Comments: 22
Kudos: 435





	Drift and tether

**Author's Note:**

> These are based slightly off both my and my best friends experiences with dissociation and should be taken lightly as we do not represent what it is like for everyone! 
> 
> This is also slightly inspired by this tumblr post : https://good-ho-mens.tumblr.com/post/621390231139172352/uh-wait-guys-is-my-mom-a-witch-raising-a-bunch

After Janus was accepted, and the tension between him and Roman and Virgil had settled, the light sides began to see as a parent-child relationship reformed between the snake and the anxious boy. They also saw it become more prominent when Remus started hanging out with them more and Virgil and Remus formed a relationship that mimicked that of siblings. 

This family dynamic that the three had returned to proved to be beneficial when Remus and Virgil began to cause trouble together, pranking and frightening the others and otherwise generally causing chaos. Janus, with the patience of a long-suffering parent was able to diffuse the situations the pair managed to get themselves into.

He also helped them on their off days.

~~~~~~~~

The first instance of this occured on a relatively normal day. Normal as in there was almost no chaos occuring. It was made apparent why when Remus walked into the kitchen where everyone else sat as it was nearing lunch time, uncharacteristically quiet, appearance dishevelled. 

Janus, who had been discussing philosophy with Logan, looked up when Patton greeted the normally boisterous side and received no reply other than a wave. He studied Remus for a second before standing. 

“Have you eaten today?” he asked softly, only to get a head shake in return. No. He pursed his lips before turning and pulling a granola bar from the cupboard and handing it to the other, “Eat.” he instructed.

Remus does as told, slowly chewing with a faraway look in his eyes. As he does so Janus turns to Virgil who, unlike the others who were now staring, had barely spared a glance at the interaction. Once the other was facing him he looked up again, unplugging his headphones without prompting before handing them to Janus, who accepted them with a grateful smile. 

Janus plugs the headphones into his own phone, pressing play on some music before turning back to Remus, taking the final bite of the granola bar.

“Let’s go to the fish pond” Janus simply states, receiving a nod from Remus. Janus places the headphones over the others' head before they sink out together.

“What was that about?!” Roman asked loudly. Patton and Logan both denied knowing anything about it with a shrug.

Without looking up from his phone, Virgil answered “Remus just needs to sit outside and listen to Mozart or something for a bit, he’ll come back in like two hours.”

“That makes no sense!” Roman exclaimed.

“I too am confused,” Logan added “What was wrong with Remus to begin with?”

Virgil shrugs in response “I don’t know, he just gets like that sometimes, we call it drifting , Jan takes him to the fish pond in the imagination and gets him to listen to music for a couple hours. Remus always comes back in a couple hours how he normally is. I don’t question it” 

Sensing that Virgil had provided all the information he had, the light sides gave up their questioning, and soon Janus returned acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. No more than two hours after that, Remus returned as promised, his normal self, rambling and dragging Virgil off to plot with him. 

~~~~~~~

The next time it happened it was in the late afternoon. Remus was dragging Virgil to the kitchen when the anxious side suddenly stopped. 

Remus stopped too and turned to watch as Virgil's eyes drifted out of focus and stared vaguely down at his hand, which he experimentally flexed. 

Logan had been reading in the living room when this had occurred and at the sudden stop he had paused his reading to watch the interaction.

“Hey emoooo, are you there?” Remus asked. When he received no reply he clicked his fingers in front of the others face. This seemed to catch his attention as he looked up to Remus. 

“Did you get Untethered?” Remus asked, and received an absent hum in return. 

Remus stepped away, moving to shout up the stairs to the bedrooms, and Virgil remained staring at the spot Remus was in for a moment before looking back down at his hand, flexing it again. 

When Remus shouted for Janus, he attracted the attention of Patton too and the pair walked down the stairs.

“What is it Remus?” Janus asked, slightly exasperated. He had finally gotten comfortable, reading a book after helping the pair clean up the mess that they had called cooking (it was Remus’s idea, and how exactly was Virgil supposed to say no to something as harmlessly stupid as cooking with sex toys). 

Remus pointed at Virgil who was still staring blankly at his hands, “Virge got Untethered” 

Patton looked at the youngest side, concern furrowing his brow, “What's wrong kiddo?” He asked.

Virgil slowly looked at the other, confusion on his face. He just cocked his head to the side and stared, almost as if he was looking through him.

Janus, unfazed as ever, walked over and stood in front of Patton in order to be directly in Virgil’s line of sight before placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Can you hear me?” Janus asked and for the first time since he stopped in his tracks, Virgil spoke.

“Yeah” he said blankly, eyes following Janus’s arm to the point of contact on his shoulder. It was obvious that he was trying to process the contact with his body. 

“Do you know why you’re Untethered?” Janus asked, speaking slowly and clearly so as to ensure Virgil could process the words.

Virgil shook his head and Janus gave him a gentle smile. “Let’s go bake some bread, hm” 

“Okay” Virgil replied and allowed himself to be guided to the kitchen, where Janus told Virgil what to get and what to add. 

As they did that, Patton and Logan shared a look before they looked to Remus for explanation.

“What’s wrong with Virgil?” Patton asked, watching him and Deceit in the kitchen as Virgil began to crack eggs into the bowl he was working over.

Remus shrugged “He lost his Tether” 

“His tether? What do you mean?” Logan asked, trying to wrap around the situation.

“I don’t know what it’s actually called, Virgil told me it feels like being a ghost and watching your body operate itself. Like a zombie! Do you think if I fed him a brain he’d turn int-“

“You’re getting off topic” Logan interrupted, “why are they making bread?” 

Remus shrugged again “something about the repetitive motion of kneading the dough grounding him or something like that, I wasn’t listening. Hey did you know 65g of human blood can substitute for an egg! Do you think it’s too late to get Virgil to do that?”

And with that the pair had lost his attention and he was bouncing into the kitchen to ramble to the others as Virgil baked with instruction from Janus.

Once Virgil finished kneading the dough he set it to the side to proof and slowly he began to respond to Remus’s rambling more, eyes coming into focus as the three of them somehow ended up debating the best way to eat human meat.

By the time the loaf of bread was ready to go in the oven, Virgil was back to his normal self as if nothing had happened. Mostly. 

Once the conversation lulled and the timer was set for the bread, Virgil quietly asked a question to the other two.

“If we watch a movie will one of you lie on top of me?” 

The other two thought nothing of the odd request, nodding and asking what movie he wanted to watch, heading back out to the living room. 

Logan and Patton were now chatting on the couch when Janus began to put on the first movie that caught their attention as Virgil and Remus laid out a blanket and some cushions on the floor.

Janus settled onto the couch as Virgil led down and Remus draped himself over the other. The pair quickly became engrossed in the world of pirates of the Caribbean.

Quietly Logan, Patton and Janus discuss the events of the day, Janus explaining what’s occurs to the pair and what they refer to as ‘drifting’ and ‘tether’ and the different ways Janus helps the pair to cope and had been doing since they had become dark sides. 

When more questions about why this happened popped up from Logan, Janus fixed him with a stern look. 

“You can’t seriously shove all of Thomas’s ‘negative’ thoughts into two sides and expect them to be completely neurotypical”

**Author's Note:**

> Again This only covers mine and my friends experiences! Also if you are struggling with mental health issues please seek help! Stay safe and strong my lovelies!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed reading this and if you did please leave a like and a kudos! Thank you for reading <3


End file.
